Pressurized, Flying Tin Can
by Luna725
Summary: Another Rampion story featuring many characters. Cresswell. Some Kaider. Cress has about had it with hopeless romantic fantasies featuring herself and the Captain. But with so little room to maneuver, being near him all the time makes forgetting difficult. And with impending doom looming over their heads, things are getting a little heated. I only own some of the plot line.
1. Chapter 1

Hello all my beautiful people. :) I have been on a fanfiction hiatus for a very long time and haven't really been able to finish a fic. However, I have been going through such a strong fangirl freakout over the Lunar Chronicles that I just couldn't stay away.

The plan for this story is a little shaky. I just started writing and this is what happened. As for plot and story, I am just kind of making it up as I go so please don't expect too much. Also it may not be very long. I suppose that depends on how busy I am until school starts back up. I apologize profusely for any grammar or spelling mistakes. I did proof-read a couple times so I think I should be near perfect but I own whatever I screwed up.

The content of this story is rated T for teen. It may be fine to keep it at K+ but I figured T would be appropriate and gives me some room. Any other thoughts, questions or comments are welcomed and appreciated. I will say I don't enjoy flames. They aren't helpful. But constructive criticism is welcomed.

So without further ado, this is my very first Lunar Chronicles fic. I hope you enjoy and I look forward to hearing from you all.

~o~o~o~

Captain Carswell Thorne of the American Republic ship "Rampion", was a very confident man. His reputation for being dashingly handsome, charismatic, and daring were legendary all over the world. Even though he was recognized as a major criminal worldwide and was being pursued by the largest powerhouse governments the galaxy could offer, the ladies could not get enough of him. He was a charmer and very attractive.

What woman on Earth and in space could resist his deep, sparkling blue eyes, light brown hair, chiseled features, and a body that may very well have been sculpted by the gods?

Grudgingly, he had to admit that he could count one, but she didn't count. She was part machine.

Thorne sighed as he reclined in the Captain's Chair in the cockpit of the Rampion, glowering. Sometimes perfection came with a cost. Such as attracting the affections of a beautiful young Lunar he found in a satellite.

Cress was wonderful. She was sweet and kind, even if she was rather naive. She had a beautiful voice, especially when she sang. Though he didn't have much of an opportunity to look at her before he was struck blind, his imagination more than made up for what he couldn't see.

She was more than even that. Cress was wickedly smart. She could hack her way into the most heavily encoded and protected firewall in the time it would take to eat breakfast. She was able to block satellites from detecting the Rampion and break into the securities system of any government. Thorne had never met anyone with her skill.

The problem was, she was good. Too good. Cress had such a strong sense of right and wrong. A sense that had been long lost on Thorne. Since joining forces with Cinder, he hadn't met people with morals like Cress's.

Thorne rubbed his eyes tiredly, which was funny because he was still blind. Being blind was an exhausting experience, but fortunately or unfortunately (he couldn't decide), he was getting used to it. He was able to use his other senses better to compensate for his lack of sight, and Cress was an invaluable resource he used to help him get around.

She pervaded his thoughts constantly. While he loved his Rampion more than anything, there was very little to do on it until they arrived in Luna, which left him plenty of time to contemplate their complicated relationship.

She had said she loved him during a feverish babble in the desert, but after talking about it later, she told him she didn't mean it. She had changed her mind and that they were good.

Thorne rapped his cane on the ground in frustration. He couldn't figure out if he was happy or disappointed in that revelation. She was a nice young gal, however a young woman like her shouldn't go for men like him, no matter how perfect he was.

His ears picked up the sound of footsteps behind him coming into the cockpit.

"Evening, Captain," Cress said in a strangely small voice. Thorne flashed her a dazzling smile.

"Hello there darling. What can the magnificent Captain Thorne do for you?" he asked brightly. He sensed her sit on the chair next to him.

"Just a little tired. I've been working on recovering blueprints of Artemesia, and sifting through the newsfeeds. There's a lot of talk about Cinder and the royal wedding between His Majesty and Queen Levana. People aren't very happy." Her voice was so small and quiet, probably due to her exhaustion. But it still bothered Thorne to hear her sound like that. She laughed lightly.

"I had almost forgotten why I came here in the first place. It's time to do your drops."

Thorne quirked a smile. "I was wondering if it was time yet." She said nothing but he heard her rustling. Probably retrieving the drops from somewhere.

"We can go somewhere else or do it here. Whatever you'd like," she replied. His grin grew wide.

"That is quite the offer darling, but I don't think there's quite enough room here. We'd need to do it somewhere with more privacy." Thorne gave Cress his signature wink. Oh he wished he could see her blush.

"Th-That's not..." she stuttered. Thorne laughed and reached for what he guessed would be her leg. She was very tense.

"I'm just teasing sweetheart. Here is fine," he said, trying to be soothing. It worked well enough it seemed, because her voice was more relaxed.

"Just...lie back a bit if you can and look up. There you go, just like normal," her soft voice filled his head as he leaned back in his chair. As she dropped the medicine into his eyes, she hummed to herself another beautiful tune that twisted his gut. He loved it when she sang. Thorne could feel her breath tickle his ear and neck as she hummed, and he suddenly became acutely aware of the heat radiating off of her body and the closeness by which she stood. It was maddening.

Cress dropped two drops into his eyes then suddenly stopped and pulled back.

"Everything okay?" she inquired, sounding more than a little concerned. Though his heart was pounding a little more loudly than he'd like to admit, Thorne gave her another award-winning smile and assured her that he was never better. Satisfied, she finished the last of the drops and left his side. He didn't like how much he missed her presence next to him.

"Your vision should start returning pretty soon. We're about a fourth of the way through the drops and Dr. Erland said your vision would return gradually." Cress sounded so dull. If he could see her face, he might've been able to guess what she was thinking about, but as it was, he was pretty clueless.

"Cress, are you alright?" he asked without any sort of flirtatiousness.

"Yes of course I am!" she exclaimed with such a false happiness, it made him cringe.

"You really gotta work on that. If you really want to convince someone that you're happy, you can't have such a false enthusiasm," Thorne smiled to make his point.

"I'm okay," she replied sounding considerably better. "Like I said earlier, I'm just really tired. It's been a long day and I have a lot on my mind." Oh.

"I'm all ears and body if you want it," Thorne replied, trying to make her laugh a little. She laughed slightly.

"That's okay. I'm... I'm going to head to bed. Goodnight Captain." Her retreating footsteps were the only indication that she had left.

"Goodnight Cress," he attempted to call after her. Thorne sighed.

"Sweet dreams."

~o~o~o~

Cress was not okay. Not even a little. She wouldn't tell him that of course.

Try as she might, Cress couldn't stop thinking about him. Thorne thought she was young and naive. Perhaps she was. But she wasn't completely stupid and ignorant. She knew a thing or two about people.

It was difficult to accept that the net dramas were complete rubbish in comparison to the real world. In the dramas, when a woman told a man that she had feelings for him, he either kissed her romantically and they lived happily ever after until the next season, or he told her that he didn't feel the same way about her and never spoke to her again.

Neither of those things had happened with Thorne. Perhaps he still thought that she was over him and didn't have feelings for him anymore. That's fine. But he hadn't done his part in telling her that he doesn't love her and it could never work between them.

What frustrated Cress the most about her awkward relationship with Thorne was that he had neither accepted her or rejected her. They were in this awkward stand-off that was going nowhere and simply broke her heart and drove her mad.

When her flirted with her, made jokes about them being together, or even walked in on her while she was in the bath (granted that only happened once), it made her think that perhaps he really did have feelings for her. There were times when they were alone where he was so kind and gentle with her. He acted very different from the charismatic and pretentious persona he had created for himself.

It didn't make sense and it confused her.

Cress walked her way from the cockpit to her bedroom, passing by various crew members doing different things. Kai and Cinder were sat very close to each other over a screen, and talking very quietly and mysteriously. Sometimes they would look at each other with doe-eyes and then look away laughing. Cress couldn't help but roll her eyes. Cute.

Wolf was less enthralled. She found the scarred warrior in the kitchen, grimly staring off into the table, as if it would give him the answers of the universe. She felt tempted to engage him in some sort of conversation, but quickly decided against it. She knew he was an ally, but he still terrified her.

Cress was rather burned out on the idea of looking at anymore screens. She had have her fill of false news stories about Cinder and Kai. Plus they were already safe from satellites and anything else that could detect them at this point. All she could do was rest until it was time to do the Captain's drops again.

At the thought of him, images of their desert escapade, the hotel, the fights they'd been through, and finally their romantic kiss in the midst of battle came flooding back to her. It was enough to make her want to bash her head into the wall to make them go away.

Cress had had quite enough of the doe-eyed swooning and hopeless romances in her head about Captain Thorne. Nothing would happen between them and that was that.

He told her so.


	2. Chapter 2

Where to begin! Well, I love and appreciate the reviews I received. I kept all of your comments in mind while writing this next chapter because you're totally right. Thorne was coming on waaaay too strong and I didn't like it either. Thank you all for helping me remember the true characteristics of our characters :) I hope you enjoy this next one. I've come up with a little bit more of a real story, so this chapter has very little romance BUT starts to give some plot. Let me know what you think, and don't forget to review!

~o~o~o~

As Cress wandered the corridors of the Rampion, she couldn't help but remember her satellite. This ship was so big in comparison to it and the company was good. Cress ran her hands along the metal of the wall, memorizing every detail. There was so much to think about. The attack of the Lunars on Earth were her fault. She had cloaked Lunar ships knowing what was on them. The deaths were her fault.

Right then, the Rampion was on its way to Luna. Technically her home planet though it had never really been home to her. They were hurtling toward the moon in order to defeat Levana, put Cinder on the throne as the true Queen, stop any wars that may come about, and save Scarlet. No pressure.

If that wasn't bad enough, she had to be on constant surveillance for both Lunar and Earthen radars to protect them from detection and then there was the thing with Thorne-

No. There was nothing with Thorne. She was resigned to feel nothing. Nothing was going to happen between them. Remember?

But he was so dreamy.

Stop it, she told herself. There were more pressing matters. Yet it was very difficult to forget. Not just for romance's sake. They had been through so much together. They needed each other in the desert and survived only because they had each other. He'd held her as she cried over her father and kept every promise he had made. After everything he had done for her, it was impossible to think of him as anything other than a true hero.

Then why couldn't he see it? Why did he INSIST that he wasn't what she knew he was?

"Hey Cress."

Cress jumped what felt like a couple feet into the air.

"Cinder! You startled me!" she cried shrilly. Cinder barely managed a small smile while there was great pain in her eyes. It seemed she was still shaken from all that had happened on Earth. She walked past Cress and retrieved a small cup of water from the storage unit behind her. Cress realized that she hadn't be aware of where she had walked to. Her thoughts were too muddled and clouded to be aware of her surroundings.

"Are you alright?" Cinder asked, sitting across from Cress at the little table in the kitchen. She looked tired and dirty, like she'd been working with machines or something. Cress could understand needing a distraction.

"I should be asking you that. There has been so much going on in so little time. It's all so...overwhelming," Cress replied with emotion. "Although I imagine it's worse for you,"

Cinder sighed in frustration, but then just shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm...fine. I just...need to figure out what to do once we reach Luna. We have to get Scarlet back. After so much death... I can't have that on me too."

Cress furrowed her brow and tried to tug at her hair, which to her dismay, was too short to accommodate her old habit.

"It's not your fault you know. Scarlet. Or the attack on Earth. It wasn't your fault and there was nothing you could do anyway." Cress found herself extremely uncomfortable. "At least not from what I heard."

Cinder had banged her head on the table and laid there with her eyes closed. Cress didn't know what to do.

"If it wasn't my fault," said Cinder, after a long silence. "Then whose is it?"

Cress gulped, guilt flooding to her cheeks.

"It's my fault," she murmured. Cinder's cyborg hearing picked up the small whisper, and without picking up her head, she turned and stared at Cress in bewilderment.

"How could it be your fault?" she inquired.

"The satellite work I did for Mistress," she squeaked. Cinder was silent as if processing. Then she shook her head and turned back to the table.

"You know that there was nothing YOU could've done, right? You had to do what you were told or else she would've killed you. Then we wouldn't have been able to find you and you wouldn't have been able to help us get Kai. No matter what you think, none of this is your fault." Cinder to her credit was trying to make Cress feel better, but she sounded so dead inside.

"If none of it could be my fault," thought Cress aloud. "Then none of it can be your fault."

Cinder snorted. Then Wolf entered the small kitchen silently, with a permanent scowl etched into his scarred face.

Cinder still hadn't lifted her head from the table but she let out a harsh, humorless laugh.

"You know Cress, maybe we're not in so much trouble as I thought! Maybe we won't die. Maybe we'll just be sent out in a little ship to live out our last days in exile. THEN we die."

Wolf looked at her with a questioning stare, eyes flicking to Cress in a silent question. Cress shook her head and shrugged, unsure how to react. Between her own uncomfortable feelings and twisted nerves, Cinder's dead hopelessness, to Wolf's commanding and intimidating presence, she just wanted to melt into the floor.

Wolf reached into the storage unit, retrieved some food, then sat at the table, careful to keep space between himself and the two women. The awkward silence between the three of them was thicker than pea soup.

"You know, I really thought this was possible!" cried Cinder, head still slightly banging on the table.

"Stop the wedding, stop the war, kill Levana, take the throne. Ludicrous. Absolutely mad. How could we do it? That's easy! We can't. We're doomed and we're all going to die. And you know what? It'll be my fault. I am all to blame. Because I can't control a single thing. I can't even use my Lunar powers all that well. Earth will fall, and we will all be killed, but I'm expected to stop that. I can't. There's nothing I can do." Cinder had started whispering at this point, staring into the wood of the table, mindlessly rambling. Her hands were trembling.

Cress recoiled at her words. Surely Cinder couldn't be talking like this, could she? Had she really lost all hope in them?

Worse, were they really doomed? That was a difficult thought. After all they'd sacrificed and suffered...

"Cinder, you need to sleep," stated Wolf bluntly and irritated. His gruff voice and deadpanned expression made it clear that no argument should be made.

Cinder started, having not noticed his presence. Her head came off the table and she had a giant red mark on her forehead from the wood. It would have been funny if not for the seriousness of their situation.

"I'm...f-fine. Just...just stressed. That's all," Cinder stuttered until his relentless gaze.

"We're going to do it a-and we're going to get Scarlet. I... we just have to figure out how." Cinder rubbed each of her eyes with her human hand, then stood up and stretched. Wolf stood up with her then effortlessly grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder. Cress was so startled she pressed herself against the wall, knocking over her own chair.

Cinder howled, "Put me down! What in stars are you doing!"

"You are going to sleep now. You have done too much thinking and need rest. I am tired of hearing you speak like we are doomed," Wolf growled. He was forceful but was careful not to hurt her. Cinder thrashed against him.

"I'm not a child! Put me down!" she screeched.

Wolf tossed her down but not so rough that she could get hurt.

Cinder fell hard on her butt to the ground and sat there in a stunned silence.

"Princess," Wolf enunciated, teeth bared. "You have too much responsibility to be acting like a child. Working yourself to exhaustion will make everything worse for all of us. We are here to put you on the throne and to help you stop Levana. Nothing less. If you continue to talk this way and tell the people who look up to you," He said pointedly, gesturing at Cress.

"Then we will lose hope and fail. You are going to STOP being a whiny child and start acting like the ruler that Luna will need you to be."

Cinder looked as if he slapped her. She said nothing. Wolf knelt down to her level on one knee and looked her dead in the eye.

"You have a lot on your shoulders. More than is fair. But we can't afford to lose focus of what we need to do. You have to be strong. Indestructible. Because that is what is needed. Can you be what you have to be?" he asked firmly.

She trembled under his gaze. But then, by some force of resolve, she nodded silently. Satisfied, Wolf stood up, held out his hand to her and said, "Good. Then you will sleep, and we will work more tomorrow on your training. You can be more powerful than Levana, but at this rate, you wouldn't be able to stop a butterfly." Cinder just nodded numbly, then took his hand to stand up. They both made their way out of the kitchen and were gone.

Cress realized she hadn't breathed for many moments, and exhaled a hard breath. Wolf had taken good control of the situation, but Cress still didn't know how to react.

"Spades, what was that about!" said Thorne from behind Cress. Cress whirled around, smacking her shin on her fallen chair.

"C-Captain! You startled me!" Cress squeaked, nerves on edge. His cocky grin was gone and was replaced with a light frown.

He inclined his head to her voice, surprised to hear her.

"Cress? Is everything okay? What's going on?" He started toward Cress until he bumped into her chair. She reached for Thorne to help steady him, then picked up her chair and led him to Wolf's now empty seat.

"Everything is fine. Cinder is... well she's still in shock from Levana's attack on Earth. And we haven't been able to come up with a solid plan yet which is making her on edge. I guess too many late nights and early mornings will make anyone a little crazy." Cress tried to distract herself from his sleep-tousled hair and soft looking lips.

"She's a cyborg. Doesn't she just need to plug herself in and recharge her batteries a little bit?" Thorne grinned. Cress made a face.

"That's not kind," she frowned. His smile faltered a bit. Her tone was not happy.

"Ah Cress, I'm just teasing her. Just having a little fun, that's all."

"Aren't you worried?"

Now it was his turn to frown. "Of course I'm worried. I have a lot to lose. I could lose my ship and all the money I had stocked up. Plus any hope I had to get rich and buy my own island. Although, at least I'd be famous. But what good is being famous if you're dead!" He tried to joke.

"Captain!" Cress cried. Needless to say, he was quite taken aback. She took in a quick breath. Thorne knew that sound. It was the sound she made when she was about to cry.

"Cress," he said gently. When she didn't reply, he sighed.

"I would also lose my crew. Though they aren't much of a crew, they are the best I've had. And I've become quite fond of all of them. Even the large hairy one."

Cress hiccuped a laugh. She knew he meant Wolf. Thorne was very quiet for a moment, trying to think of something to make her happy.

"But I'd especially be upset to lose a pretty young Lunar that I met in a satellite." Cress took a quick breath in, surprised to hear him say that.

Thorne was equally surprised to find that he meant it. Then she laughed a little bit.

"How do you know I'm pretty? You can't see," she demanded lightly. Thorne laughed a real laugh this time.

"I have a fantastic imagination."

~o~o~o~

Don't forget to review!


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